Many individuals, particularly the elderly, experience physical, mental or emotional disabilities which require some form of physical assistance. However, current patient assistance systems do not permit caregivers to care for patients in a humane way so as to facilitate maintaining each patient's self-dignity while at the same time providing the level of support or restraint necessary to accommodate each patient's medical and safety needs. An important element in delivering care to these individuals is to provide safe and comfortable ergonomic interface with their local environment to allow these individuals to maintain their dignity and to be free of restraint which is not medically necessary.
Many patients are frail and cannot sit up properly without some type of support. For example, a patient seated in a chair, a gerichair, or a wheelchair frequently slouches, slumps, slides down, leans to one side, or leans forward at the waist, therefore requiring some type of posture support or restraint which prevents the aforementioned problems and which also comfortably prevents the patient from falling out of the chair.
Patients are placed in physical restraints for various reasons. For example, patients afflicted with dementia or Alzheimer's disease may be physically restrained to be prevented from wandering; patients exhibiting antisocial behavior or having the potential for violence may be physically restrained to be prevented from inflicting injury upon either themselves or others; and patients lacking the strength to stand or walk, or having the potential for falling, may be physically restrained. However, many patients may be unnecessarily physically restrained in situations where a support device could be used to satisfy both medical and safety requirements.
Several physical control needs of nonambulatory patients and frail patients, particularly in the area of support are going unmet in nursing homes, long term care facilities, assisted living environments and private homes. For example, many such patients encounter difficulties in supporting themselves in gerichairs, wheelchairs, or other settings, and require physical support to avoid falling, leaning side to side, falling forward, slouching, slumping or sliding. Further, many frail patients or Alzheimer's patients require physical restraint while sitting in a chair or while laying in bed to prevent them from injuring themselves. Current support systems are functionally limited, application specific systems that are not easily configurable or adaptable to enable patients of various sizes, using various chair sizes and types, to be adequately supported. In effect, current restraint systems are functionally limited, application specific systems that are difficult for the caregiver to use and uncomfortable for the patient to wear. In addition, these systems can cause damage to the patient's skin such as cutting, chafing, or irritating and thus cause a new medical problem requiring treatment.
The physical support or restraining needs of individual patients frequently change with improvements or deteriorations in the patient's health status. For example, one patient might require minimal physical support, another patient might require moderate physical support, and still another patient might require physical restraint. Current devices are single purpose devices or are part of a series of single purpose devices which provide only a limited range or level of patient support or a limited range or level of patient restraint. A need exists for a cost effective patient assistance system that permits the caregiver to interchange the configuration of the elements of a patient assistance system so that a single system can be used for the purpose of providing physical support as well as physical restraint as the patient's needs and condition change.
In nursing homes and in other medical care settings, clothing worn by patients functions for a single purpose: as a garment for covering the patient's body. Specially designed stretchable garments, however, can be used as a means to enhance support or restraint for a patient if they are utilized in combination with a flexible belt support or belt restraint system. Such a system would spread the stress of support or restraint over a patient's entire body rather than focus the stress on one body area and also allow the patient more natural freedom of movement. The garment system would also provide physical support or physical restraint in an unobtrusive manner, thus allowing patients to preserve their self dignity. A need exists for a multi-purpose garment system that functions in combination with a flexible patient support and restraint system to physically control the movement of the patient's body, while also functioning as a stylish wardrobe which allows patients to preserve their self dignity and to enhance their quality of life.
Due to the frail condition of many patients, they spend a substantial part of each day in a seated position with the assistance of various support devices or restraint devices such as seating cushions. Current seating cushions are either expensive custom made devices or part of a series of stock cushions, neither of which functions as an integrated seating cushion system which can provide supplemental support for a range of patient sizes or for a range of chair sizes and types. A need exists for a modular seating cushion system that functions in combination with a belt system with various chair sizes and types, and in combination with a belt system and a garment system with various chair sizes and types, to allow the caregiver to easily configure a "custom" seating environment to assist in satisfying the medical and safety needs of each patient.
The humane and effective care of patients requires an adaptive patient support and restraint system which provides an ergonomically friendly interface which is safe and comfortable to use, and which allows patients to maintain their self dignity and to be free of unnecessary physical restraint. Therefore, a need exists for an adaptive support and restraint system that provides selectively interchangeable, adjustable, variable, and distributive physical support and physical restraint, and that enhances the quality of life for patients using the system.